


I Dreamed I Held You In My Arms

by idontevenknowugh



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, But we don't quite get there, Couch Cuddles, Flashbacks, M/M, Nicknames, Reborntale Papyrus / RebornFell Sans, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, SpicyCinnaBon, non-sequential story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 14:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14083416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontevenknowugh/pseuds/idontevenknowugh
Summary: Sans met Sunshine under the strangest circumstances, but all that matters to him is how Sunshine brightens his world.





	I Dreamed I Held You In My Arms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PurrfecktlySinful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurrfecktlySinful/gifts).



> A very, very, very, very late Happy Birthday! to my dear, sweet Purr. -cuddles- I'm sorry this has taken me so dreadfully long. I hope you like it. <3

It was deathly still in the forest. It always was. The living monsters had fled or were… not that, anymore. The angels and demons had gone with them, helping or preying on them as appropriate. There was nothing in this place for anyone, except for him.    
  
Sans was waiting under a snow laden tree for the chance to ask a very important question. He had muttered the whole speech several times only to have it taken away by the wind and lost forever. The urge to practice more was nagging at him, but he was worried that he might be overheard. He was also worried his words would never be heard. Where was he?    
  
A few minutes of anxious grumbling led to stomping his way around the tree a few times to vent his frustration. It wasn't clear if it was the stomping- that would be absurd- the wind, or just the tree having enough, but a mound of snow suddenly fell down and coated Sans from skull to toe. He froze, half from shock and half from annoyance.    
  
“No, no, no!” He jumped away from the offending branch, now mostly clear of snow, and glared at it. He had taken extra care to clean up, even washing his clothes, for tonight. Papyrus had asked him several suspicious questions when he caught Sans meticulously grooming his wings. Then this fucking tree had come along and ruined it all.    
  
“Fuck you,” he snarled at it, embedding several bullets into its trunk, and then following them up with a kick. The tree swayed in the wind, threatening to drop more off the stuff, so Sans ran away, cutting a path through the snow. His wings stayed up behind him, making it that much harder. They were already wet and cold as hell. He didn't need them picking up more snow from the ground.    
  
Finding a spot beneath a much less burdened tree, Sans tried brush the snow off himself. He shivered his wings, making the icy flakes rain down through the feathers. It wasn't pleasant, but it mostly did the trick. That was as clean as he was going to get, so he went right back to feeling anxious.    
  
“Where are you?” He asked the empty forest, looking up at the cavern roof.    
——-   
“Who are you?”    
  
Sans jumped, his wings opening, the feathers puffing up as he tried to make himself look bigger. It was an instinctual and wholly useless defense mechanism to being startled. There was no hiding his small stature. He hated that his body hadn’t gotten that memo and insisted on the pointless display.    
  
“Who the fuck are you?” he snapped, twisting to run his fingers through the feathers and smooth them down. “Sneakin’ around like that.” It was best to pretend like he wasn’t the least bit worried about the other monster, but he readied his magic just in case. He hadn’t even felt them, so they couldn’t have much power to speak of. That’s why his soul was racing. Obviously.    
  
“I’m sorry! Did I scare you?” The sound of feathered wings catching the air warned Sans that the stranger was gliding down from his spot in the snowy tree. He took a step back defensively and felt the feathers along top of his wings bristle.    
  
“As if!” He snarled glaring at the stranger as he reached the ground with a soft thud and a poof of snow. “What-? Boss?”    
  
Sans could hardly believe what he was seeing. The monster was wearing a white shirt with dorky blue booty shorts on top of some sort of thin black material that hugged his arms and legs. His teeth were flat and blunt, not to mention lifted in a large grin. Nonetheless, that was Papyrus’s face. If it weren't for the large, sweeping golden wings, a change of clothes would fool most monsters.    
  
“That's an odd greeting,” the monster said without a hint of irony. He stretched out one wing, revealing layers of lighter, fluffier, cream feathers, and then pulled it closed again. Satisfied, he looked back at Sans, still smiling.    
  
“I’m Papyrus!” He announced, shaking Sans’s world a little more. That couldn't possibly be right. Papyrus was tough and mean, like a demon- also an important distinction- was supposed to be. There was no way this was Papyrus.   
  
“T-tell me another one,” Sans made himself laugh to convince himself it was just a bad joke.    
  
“Another what?” The angel tilted his skull at Sans. “Another fact about myself?” He perked up, his wings lifting slightly with the motion. Sans didn't get a chance to correct him before he launched into it. “Let's see… I love helping people- and I’m great at it, too!” He jumped into a pose with his arm bent and raised in front of him and his wings opened just enough to frame the move. Sans skipped backwards, using his wings to keep his balance.    
  
“Yeah, you are definitely not Papyrus,” Sans snorted. The boss was going to get a kick out of this, and then kick this guy’s ass.    
  
The monster in question dropped his pose, tilting his skull at Sans with a blank look. “Well, that seems awfully rude. Not to mention, unfair. You never told me who you are, Sans look-alike.”    
  
“Wh- excuse me?” Sans glowered at the stranger. “I am Sans, fuck you very much.”    
  
“That is no kind of language to use with a friend,” the monster glared back, the most intense expression he had shown yet. “And there is no way you can be Sans. Sans is a demon!”   
  
“You gotta be shittin’ me,” Sans muttered, his arms, wings, and expression drooping in disbelief.   
——-   
The cold was starting to freeze his wet feathers. Sans turned and ran his phalanges through them to break up the ice. It was a terrible idea to stay. He had to get somewhere warm. But what if he showed up?    
  
Groaning, Sans smacked his cheekbones. He was tougher than this. Snow, of all the hurdles that could come up, was not going to be the one to trip him up. Growling, he started stamping his feet again, this time to stay warm.    
  
The glow that signaled his salvation built slowly. It could have almost been dawn seeping in through the gaps that dotted the cavern, except it was centralized at the base of a nearby tree. Everything around Sans was gradually bathed in the warm light, and he imagined he even felt warmer from it, as little sense as that made.    
  
Out if it stepped a tall form, whose golden feathers caught the light just right to look like the metal itself, dripping down from the graceful bones of his wings. Sans sighed, once again taken with the sight of the other angel. It took serious effort to put his mask back on.    
  
“About time, Sunshine,” Sans teased, leaving his tree to join Sunshine at his. The nickname was hilarious because the other monster didn't even know what it meant. Which was also depressing. His favorite kind of humor.    
  
“It’s not like it's up to me,” Sunshine rebutted, tone cheerful. It was so aggravating and endearing how he never got mad. “What happened to you?” It disappeared immediately, concern taking its place.    
  
“What?” Sans was caught off guard by the question, having already forgotten his previous trials. He glanced over and caught sight of ice spiderwebbing out across his red feathers. “Oh right. Snow.” He shrugged.    
  
“You look like you might freeze to death. We can't stay out here!” Sunshine immediately began to fret, looking around the woods like there was something to spot. “This way!”    
  
Sans wasn't sure how he could possibly freeze to death, being dead already, or what there was ‘that way’, but Sunshine was already dragging him along, so he went. They made good time, even in the deep snow, thanks to Sunshine’s long legs and endless energy.    
——   
“So you're Sans, too?”    
  
“I think so,” Sans said with a good deal of uncertainty. It was all guesswork, piecing together what had happened. He just couldn't see another explanation. “It's not like we could be two sets of completely unrelated twins from the same world.”    
  
“Why not?” The angel asked. He stared at Sans with open curiosity. Sans didn't have a particular reason behind the statement, just an odd certainty that it was true. Shrugging, Sans turned away from the stare.    
  
“Doesn't make sense,” he muttered.    
  
“But this is another dimension?”    
  
“Yeah…” Sans said with even more uncertainty. “It's not like it really matters, you’re some kind of weird-” the golden feathers ruffled a little at that, “copy of the boss and you're here. Now what?”    
  
“I should get home, back to Sans. My Sans,” there wasn't any hesitation in the statement, despite the fact that they had no idea how to do that. Sans couldn’t help, and they had been sitting on some stumps near the spot for two hours without any sign of the ‘blinding light’ that the other angel had described.    
  
“So,” Sans jumped, and looked over at a suddenly intense and searching look. “How come you’re an angel? You’re even grumpier and more crude than Sans.”    
  
“Dunno,” Sans turned away and stared out into the forest. Angels were a rare breed. Nothing about him seemed well suited to the status. He was surly and far, far too lazy to actually go out and help people. According to what he had heard, it meant that he was at peace when he died. That just didn't sound like his kind of thing.    
  
“And Your Papyrus?” The questions kept coming, but at least this one wasn't about him.   
  
“The Boss is a demon, real badass, too.” Sans smiled, remembering Papyrus take down a larger demon that encroached on their territory. It had been a blood bath. Sans was glad of his protection, even though he had never explained why he gave it.    
  
“That doesn't sound right at all,” the other Papyrus said, sounding almost distressed. “I wonder if I could-”    
  
All talking stopped as the long, sharp shadows of pine needles crept over their spot. A glow had appeared behind a nearby tree. Sans felt his soul speed up. He kind of thought it hadn't been real.    
  
“Oh, that's the same light!” The angel stood and rushed over towards it. He stopped before going out of sight and turned to face Sans. “It was nice to meet you!” He called out, waving one arm.   
  
“You too, Sunshine,” Sans was suddenly inspired for a nickname by the sight of the angel surrounded by the still increasing glow. It fit him astoundingly well. Sunshine paused, but they had no idea how long he had. “Get going,” Sans prompted.    
  
That startled Sunshine into moving. Sans slowly stood, turning to head back to where Boss was surely wondering what had happened to him.    
  
“Let's meet again sometime!” Sunshine suddenly yelled. Sans stopped and looked back, but the light was suddenly gone.    
  
“Sunshine?” He asked, but all that was left was cold, dark trees.    
———   
“What a dump,” Sans looked at the decrepit house with a wary eye. The place looked like it was about to fall over. Just like every place in the abandoned town, it was dark and still. Strings of lights ran along the eves, but they were as lifeless as the rest of it. Sans wasn't quite sure why anyone would bother decorating the sorry place.    
  
“It could use some… work,” Sunshine agreed, the closest thing to a negative statement Sans had ever heard from him. “But you need to get out of the elements.” He didn't give Sans much of a choice, taking his hand and pulling up the steps of the porch and through the creaky front door.    
  
The inside was actually worse than the outside. Dust carpeted the living room, and more wandered through the air, kicked up by the wind they’d brought in with their entrance. Even under the grime the furniture all looked worn, scratches on the wood and fabric faded. A small TV sat against one wall. Sans wondered if it worked.    
  
Sunshine took a look around and grimaced before walking over to the couch. He picked up a dingy blanket between two fingers and shook it. A thick cloud of dust flew up from it, engulfing Sunshine. For a moment the whole world seemed a little more dim, like every time Sans had to watch Sunshine disappear. This time, at least, the dust settled and revealed those radiant feathers and amazing smile. Which Sunshine still wore despite the dust bath.    
  
“This should help,” he declared, carrying it over to Sans. He flicked the blanket up and it settled across Sans’s wings and shoulders. The blanket wasn't much warmer than Sans himself, but after a moment he warmed a bit. However, Sunshine wasn't done. With a single look of distaste he sat down on the couch and held his arms open.    
  
“Um,” Sans felt dumb as he watched on, clueless as to what Sunshine was doing or what he wanted Sans to do. The only hint he got was Sunshine waving his arms in a circle over his lap. “What?” Sans finally gave up and asked.   
  
“Come sit!” Sunshine patted his lap. Sans took an involuntary half step back out of sheer shock. He grabbed the edges of the blanket and pulled it up around his face to hide what had to be a visible blush. There was no way he could do that. If he did, he would give away everything.    
  
“I- I’m good,” Sans shook his head. “I don't want to… make you cold.”    
  
“Nonsense! I'm going to make you warm,” Sunshine pat his lap with a sense of exasperation. Sans held out for a few seconds more before he gave in to the temptation. He settled down on Sunshine’s lap hesitantly, not letting his full weight rest on him. Sans’s wings tucked in tight to his body to stay out of the way.    
  
Sunshine wasn't having any of that. He wrapped his arms around Sans and pulled him close. It was a little uncomfortable having his wings trapped between them, but so worth it to feel Sunshine breathing against him. He was warm, despite being out in the same cold as Sans. Even better, he pulled his larger wings forward and wrapped them around Sans so only his skull was visible.    
  
The soft inner feathers Sans had admired were right there, tickling his chin. He could hardly believe it. He wanted to rub his face in them, but that would be weird. Sans settled for shifting a few times to feel them run across his mandible. With a sigh that ruffled the feathers directly in front of him, Sans settled in and enjoyed Sunshine’s hold. How the hell could he ask now and lose this?   
——   
Sunshine kept showing up. Sans knew because he kept hanging out in the woods waiting to see if he would. Whatever was making this possible ran like clockwork. It would appear twice, about an hour apart.    
  
Thus, they never got to spend all that long together. Most of the time was spent talking about their worlds and what was different. A lot was. Sunshine’s version of Sans sounded like a gigantic wimp, especially for a demon. When Sans said as much Sunshine rushed to defend his friend, but Sans didn't buy it.    
  
Sunshine was nice about everything. Sans asked him to think of someone he hated, but the most he could come up with was a story about being disappointed in some demons he saw preying on living monsters. Despite that being a demon’s whole purpose. Apparently Sunshine had given them a lecture and his Sans had chased the demons away.    
  
If he was honest, which he rarely was, Sans was jealous. Boss didn't solicit any help from Sans, and probably wouldn't offer any more if asked. It still wasn't clear to Sans why Boss bothered protecting him in the first place. And he didn't dare ask. He appreciated it, but spending time with Sunshine actually made him feel good, which angels were supposed to do, unlike Sans. He couldn't understand why Sunshine kept coming back.    
  
“It most certainly isn't silly. Keeping your feathers well groomed is very important!” He was lecturing Sans again about something. “It helps you avoid things getting caught in the feathers, especially old feathers. That's the worst. And it feels really good.”   
  
Unexpectedly, Sunshine stopped walking. Sans went a few steps past him before it registered. By then Sunshine was running long, bare phalanges through the feathers along the bone of his left wing. Sans froze, delicate currents of pleasure radiating out from the touch. His feathers, always excitable, ruffled, his whole wing shivering at the unexpected sensation.    
  
“Is something wrong, Fluffy?” His fucking nickname didn't help. Sunshine had managed to startle Sans several more times, and since he kept seeing Sans while he was… puffed, the nickname had stuck. He felt himself blush and yanked his wing away to hide his face with it.    
  
“No, noth-”    
  
“Come back!” Someone yelled, breaking the deathly stillness of the woods. Sans jumped, puffing up once again, but with Sunshine here he didn't have time to be vain. His magic flared, crackling across his bones and wiping away any last remnants of the pleasure from before.    
  
“This way,” Sunshine walked towards the sound like a dog following a scent. Sans cursed and scrambled to follow him. How many times had Sans tried to impress on Sunshine that this place wasn't safe. Demons ruled, and angels were… he was lucky he had Boss.    
  
Catching up to Sunshine with his short legs was nothing short of impossible. Sans fought his way through the snow to trail after him instead. By the time the idea to fly hit him the ends of his flight feathers were caked in snow from his careless scrambling.    
  
“Sunshine,” he called when he lost sight of the other angel. His soul was pounding wildly, making it hard to keep up any speed. His vision felt almost blurry as he whipped his skull around looking for some hint of golden wings. A million dark possibilities raced through his mind.    
  
“Over here!” Sunshine called. He didn't sound like he was in trouble, but that could change. Sans trudged his way over to him. He was standing over a small bunny monster. A living monster. He was curled up at the base of a tree crying. His ears were flat to his head and trembling as he gulped in air for a long series of sobs.   
  
“What the fuck…?” Sans looked around. How did a kid get all the way out here?    
  
“We have to help,” Sunshine declared and knelt down next to the kid.    
  
“How? He can't even see us,” Sans asked. They couldn't lead the kid home or anything. Sunshine just looked at him like he was being dense.   
  
“Hey there,” he started talking to the bunny, a sense of deep calmness coming over him. “It's going to be alright. Once you calm down it will be easy as pie to figure it out.” The kid’s crying actually slowed down, and he hiccuped a few times. “Not to mention you have me with you, and I’m great at puzzles. And Fluffy! He's smart, if a little grouchy.”   
  
Sans was startled at the mention. He hadn't agreed to help. He wasn't even sure what he could do. There was something about the way Sunshine talked to the kid that made Sans feel warm inside. Maybe it was his long dormant angel instincts waking up, but he kind of did want to help, even if he wasn't sure how. Sunshine was looking at him expectantly.   
  
“R-right,” He said out loud. Sunshine’s whole face brightened, and Sans’s soul did a funny little turn that told him he had made a huge mistake.    
——   
Sunshine had no mercy, obviously. While they sat there, Sans in his fucking lap, he had decided that Sans wasn't warming up fast enough. Sunshine had insisted he shed his coat, which was wet, and started rubbing his arms to warm them up faster. The vigorous rubbing had transformed into slow strokes up and down them now that Sans was warm. Sunshine had given no indication that he was ready to let Sans go.    
  
Sans simultaneously wanted to stay in his lap forever and hop out of it right this second. It was the most wonderful torture sitting here while he had so much he wanted to say and no guts to say it with. That made him laugh, and he chuckled into Sunshine’s wings.    
  
“Fluffy?” Sunshine asked suddenly. Sans froze. He had given it all away, hadn't he? “I really like being here. It's nice to have another angel who thinks that even demons can change. And despite how hard you try to pretend you don't, you do like to help people. You're good at it, too. I guess I just wish…”    
  
Sunshine stopped, a previously unknown hesitation in his voice. He didn't hesitate about anything. Sans waited with a knot in his soul for the end of that sentence, but it didn’t come. He felt Sunshine’s arms tighten around him a little, and that was it.    
  
“O-oh?” Sans didn’t know what he was doing. The words just leapt out of his mouth, prompted by the glimmer of promise from Sunshine’s confession. “I don’t know about some of that, but… you could stay…”    
  
“Stay…?” Sunshine still sounded uncertain. Sans wanted to disappear in a puff of smoke. Why had he said it? He had decided he wasn’t going to ask. Where had his carefully prepared speech gone? This was a disaster.    
  
“Stay here?” Sunshine asked again. Sans just nodded. Silence fell over them again. At least he hadn’t pushed Sans off his lap. Yet.    
  
“I couldn’t leave Sans,” Sunshine finally said. Sans spent a split second feeling overwhelmed that Sunshine felt he could never leave him before remembering that he wasn't Sans to him. He was Fluffy, he thought bitterly.    
  
“Right,” Sans sighed. It had been a stupid thing to ask.    
  
“Though, I’d really like to,” Sunshine admitted, much softer. “Life back home isn't bad, but when I'm there I keep thinking about being here. I don't know why.”   
  
“Oh,” Sans’s dark thoughts were instantly silenced. That was… that was more than he would have hoped for. Sunshine was forever trying to do the right thing. If what he wanted was not what he thought was the right thing, then Sans would have to find a way to reconcile the two.    
  
“I’d like to meet Sans sometime,” he blurted, despite this being the worst idea ever. Sans routinely mused on his jealousy of the other him for getting to spend all his time with Sunshine.   
  
“Really?” Because of the way they were sitting, still pressed together, surrounded by Sunshine’s graceful wings, Sans could feel Sunshine perk up at the idea. That Sans was important to Sunshine, and Sans was just going to have to work with that. Now that he knew Sunshine wanted to stay, Sans was up for just about anything to make that a reality.    
  
He could just imagine Boss telling him that he was being lazy and passive. For once he would be wrong. With a gentle push and a small stroke of the soft feathers, Sans moved the wings out of his way and stood.    
  
“Should probably head back to the spot. Don't want to miss your wormhole.” He said, staring at the floor.    
  
“Right,” Sunshine, stood. He walked past Sans to the door- except he didn't. The red boots came into view and stopped. There was the rustle of feathers, like Sunshine was fidgeting.    
  
A soft clack rang out as something hard hit the top of Sans’s skull.    
  
“See you next time,” Sunshine said, his voice suspiciously close to Sans’s skull. The next moment he was gone, the door closing being him, and Sans’s world got a little darker again.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is where I: take requests, post streams, chit chat, do teasers, try out new fics, reblog a lot of skeleton porn, pimp all my favorite fics


End file.
